Dodge Street

Observations, Conditions, Opportunities

Dodge Street is distressed yet it is hardly unsalvageable. It seems

to have been abandoned to the Fates by a city more than
willing let a block go in lieu of the likelihood of any sudden turn-
around. In some areas, sidewalks are virtually nonexistent, forming
a jagged moonscape totally inaccessible to the elderly and the
handicapped, thoroughly unenjoyable to even the most able-
bodied pedestrian. People prefer to walk in the streets in the
absence of any usable pedestrian space. Hundreds of feet can
be measured without a singe tree noted. Two cobrahead
streetlamps provide the only evening light between Ellicott and
Michigan.

Dodge Street’s location and even its name make it important

historically. Dodge Street was the northern border of the farm
owned by Alvin Leonard Dodge, who lived in the city long
enough to witness the burning of Village of Buffalo (from which his
childhood home was spared) to its development into a world-
renowned commercial center. Spanning several hundred acres
between the presentday streets of Dodge, Best, Main and
Jefferson, the Dodge Farm was sold in the 1880s to the City of
Buffalo, which at the time was undergoing a serious housing
shortage.

Alvin Leonard Dodge’s life was a fascinating drama that

included a narrow family escape from British terrorism, a Mount Cavalry CME Church anchors one end of Dodge Street at
schooling under the stewardship of Millard Fillmore at the little Ellicott.
school at Cold Springs, a quiet and prosperous life in a large
woodframe house at presentday Main and Dodge, and the rise
of a city that almost instantaneously transformed his farm into a
beating heart of a rapidly expanding metropolis. That Dodge
Street is resembling more and more the fields of Alvin Leonard
Dodge’s farm should be no comfort to those whose interest in
Midtown’s history make the street worth saving and
remembering. Its significance in the spectrum of city history
compels a sentiment that the best way to elevate the street’s
importance is to repopulate it, not cede it to renaturalization.

Notably, what seems to be a fatal absence of public support has

not resulted in commensurate abandonment by residents, at
least not totally. Many owners of the mostly double houses keep
on keeping on, undiscouraged by a sheer breadth of vacant,
weed-strewn lots and a public realm in disarray. Houses like 80
Dodge, in excellent states of upkeep, stand in odd juxtaposition
to a diamond-in-the-rough like 107 Dodge, a quaint cottage with
elements of detailed craftsmanship. In all, however, there are 26
vacant lots along the single block between Ellicott and
Michigan. Most houses left over are still in relatively good shape,
but are seriously disadvantaged by the break-up of the
surrounding streetscape, houses too scattered and the street too The house at 97 Dodge is quite substantial, and also quite
depopulated to form a coherent sense of place and community. abandoned. Imagine the impact its renovation will have on such a
Perhaps this is why, despite a recent renovation, even the well- troubled block.
maintained 118 Dodge is now boarded up.

Dodge Street is inherently worth a serious investment of time,

energy and public investment. It is no less proximate to the LRRT
line, buses and consumer conveniences than the best streets of
Midtown. With a large swath of its former streetscape destroyed,
however, Dodge Street is inadequately advantaged by its
existing built environment, though it does contain opportunities
for reuse and restoration.
Recommendations, Strategies, Suggested Improvements

Commit to complete overhaul of the public’s experience of the

sidewalk

From new sidewalks to trees to street lamps, nothing more would

uplift the prospects of the street than a coordinated
improvement program for the pedestrian right-of-way. With few
sidewalks in good repair, only two streetlamps, and the need for
over 42 new trees, there is certainly no want of areas in which to
begin. Therefore the City should advocate for a night-to-day
planning approach to Dodge Street by:

• Redoing sidewalks
• Planting a row of new and diverse trees
• Installing attractive street lighting in a very short span of time
(this will make it seem as though the street is undergoing a The site of the proposed Alvin’s Alley already contains a “desire path”
dramatic turn-around) between Southampton and Dodge, indicating its frequent use as a
pedestrian passageway.

Renovate 97 Dodge

The palatial home at 97 Dodge is one of Midtown’s greatest

houses. A single-family home of some 4000+ square feet, it is an
abandoned and deteriorating vestige of a once prominent
residential street. The house is as inspiring in its possibilities as it is
disheartening in its potential fate, as demolition appears to be
the solution-by-default in the absence of an immediate
restoration effort. Demolition will seal the fate of the block as a
lost cause, its renovation, by contrast, a symbol of its hope for
renewal. To provide strong evidence of the possibility of Dodge’s
revival, a renovation solution must be found immediately for the
home that will:

• Remove gang graffiti

• Secure it from the elements
• Bring the structure up to building code
• Find a responsible owner to occupy the home

Create new mid-block alley between Dodge and Southampton

A new brick alley over an existing desire path leading from

Southampton to Dodge would break up an otherwise long and
monotonous block. At no more than 15 feet in width, the new
alley could become, like Virginia Place in Allentown, a charming
formalized passageway. It could have an inviting and
characteristic name, such as Alvin’s Alley, inspired by Alvin
Leonard Dodge. The preponderance of vacant parcels on both
streets provides an opportunity to:

• Cut through the block pattern (on the border between the
City-owned lots of 89 and 91 Dodge) and form new corners
on which to focus development or passive greenspace
• Create a new brick alley that could frame development of
smaller “cottage style” units on shallow lots, facing toward
the alley which would act as a new residential street